The first supersonic airliner to enter service, the Concorde flew thousands of passengers across the Atlantic at twice the speed of sound for over 25 years. Designed and constructed by Aérospatiale of France and the British Aviation Corporation, the graceful Concorde was a stunning technological achievement that could not overcome severe economic difficulties.

In 1976 Air France and British Airways jointly inaugurated Concorde service to destinations about the globe. Carrying up to 100 passengers in wonderful comfort, the Concorde catered to first class passengers for whom speed was critical. It could cross the Atlantic in fewer than 4 hours – half the time of a traditional jet airliner. Nevertheless its high operating expenses resulted in really higher fares that restricted the quantity of passengers who could afford to fly it. These issues and a shrinking market place eventually forced the reduction of service till all Concordes had been retired in 2003.

In 1989, Air France signed a letter of agreement to donate a Concorde to the National Air and Space Museum upon the aircraft’s retirement. On June 12, 2003, Air France honored that agreement, donating Concorde F-BVFA to the Museum upon the completion of its final flight. This aircraft was the very first Air France Concorde to open service to Rio de Janeiro, Washington, D.C., and New York and had flown 17,824 hours.

Soviet cavalry tank BT-7. Легкий танк БТ-7.Image by Peer.Gynt
The BT-7 was the last in a series of Soviet cavalry tanks that have been developed in big numbers among 1935 and 1940. They had been lightly armoured, but reasonably well-armed for their time, and had a lot greater mobility than other modern tank styles. The BT tanks have been known by the nickname Betka from the acronym, or its diminutive Betushka.[1]

The successor of the BT-7 Tank would be the well-known T-34 medium tank, introduced in 1940, which would replace all of the Soviet fast tanks, infantry tanks, and medium tanks then in service.

The 1st prototypes of the BT-7 had a distinctive canted-ellipse shaped turret mounting both the major gun and a coaxial machine-gun. The specification also called for the project to enable for installation without any important alter to the framework of new guns: the 76 mm CT or PS-3 primary gun (a quick-barreled howitzer) and the 45 mm 20K model 1932/38, a lengthy-barreled, higher-velocity gun beneficial against tanks, but less efficient than the 76 mm gun against infantry.

In the rear of the turret there was housed a rotating drum-variety magazine for 18 76 mm shells or a radio station. The prototype underwent an substantial testing system in the summer season and autumn of 1934. As a outcome of this testing, it was felt that a machine-gun was unnecessary on a tank with a 3-man crew, specially as it produced the assembly of the turret far more complicated.

For that reason, in early 1935, the tank went into production with a simpler design, incorporating the turret from the BT-5. (However, the thought of wheeled/tracked car with a 76 mm cannon was not abandoned and the plant was commissioned to create a new BT-7 turret from the turret of the T-26-four.) In the production model, a cylindrical turret housed a 45 mm 20K gun with a DT-model machine-gun. On some of the tanks, a model 71-TC radio with frame antenna was installed.

The crew consisted of three men: the commander (who also served as the gunner) the loader and the driver. In 1937 the organization launched production of the BT-7 with a conical turret. Primary armament remained the same, but the ammunition was increased to 44 rounds. All serving tanks now installed the DT machine gun in the rear niche. For the firing of the gun and coaxial machine gun at night, the tank was equipped with two specific projector-sort headlamps, and a mask placed on the gun. Subsequently, these lights had been retrofitted to earlier models of the tank. Improvements have been also made to the drive wheels, caterpillar tracks and gearbox by 1938.

In parallel with the major modification, 154 BT-7A artillery tanks had been created among 1936 and 1938, fitted with a bigger turret and a 76 mm CT-kind gun, 50 rounds of ammunition (40 in a tank with a portable radio).

In 1938, four experimental BT-eight tanks mounted with V-two diesel engines had been made. Soon after comparative tests of the BT-7 and BT-8, the diesel tanks had been put into production in 1940 (below the designation BT-7M) with the powerplants being produced in a separate plant of the Voroshilovets factory to make sure provide. From December 1939, the BT-7A went into production with some minor modifications – extra bracing for rigidity, a manhole underneath, and a smaller sized air filter. The diesel tanks showed considerably-lowered fuel fees, and the petrol tanks were soon placed into reserve.

Numerous experimental tanks have been conceived primarily based on the BT series, for instance the wheeled BT-IC, developed by NF Tsyganova, a platoon commander in the 4th Armoured Regiment of the Ukraine Military District and self-taught designer. The variety effectively passed field tests but was not ordered in bulk. Yet another Tsyganova design was the S-two &quotTurtle,&quot with a new design of hull and turret. There was also the command tank CBT-7 with a fixed turret, the OT-7 mounting a flamethrower, the HBT-7 made to safeguard from toxic contamination and lay smokescreens, the PBT bridgelayer and the TTBT-7 and Thubten-7 radio-controlled tanks (recognized at the time as Teletanki).

Shortly before Operation Barbarossa, the BT-7 underwent an up-armour programme. In 1940, Mariupol Ilyich Iron and Steel Performs created 50 sets of hinged homogeneous armor for the BT-7M, which improved the weight of the test tank to 18 tons. On the installation of these kits to military units, however, absolutely nothing is identified.

Among 1935 and 1940, 5328 BT-7 tanks of all modifications (except BT-7A) had been built. They had been operated by the armored and mechanized forces of the Red Army for virtually the entire war. Over 2000 BT-7 series tanks have been lost in the initial 12 months on the Eastern Front. Hundreds had been immobilized even just before the invasion by poor maintenance, and had to be abandoned as all Soviet forces withdrew eastward. The survivors fought against the Wehrmacht in numbers steadily reduced by attrition, till superseded by more modern day varieties in 1944. The BT-7 series continued in use elsewhere, including being employed against Japanese forces (Battle of Khalkhyn Gol and Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation) in Manchuria in 1945.